To wonder what else can be done to break the cycle of generations living off benefits?

[Allonthesametrain]

Sounds harsh because It is. As a former teacher, then eduation social worker, now the past few years more heavily involved with school attendance.

My desire has always been to help children from unprivileged backgrounds to know their worth and achieve the best they can and this has been my career from age 23 to 57.

The number of times I've cried, torn my hair out, is immeasurable. I and colleagues have gone above and beyond to support the families, genuinely care about them, but unfortunately the outcome has been, as I've said in title, it's a continiation of the cycle of being brought up within a small community and low expectations.

So many gorgeous kids (supported throughout their young lives until they leave school) who tell you their dreams of what they want to to achieve in life, we do everything we can to enable it and some have indeed broken out of the circle but unfortunately the reality has been...

Parents who live lifestyles of no bedtime routine, tell their kids not to come back before ...pm, sleep in and don't get them out of bed ready and fed for school and as for weekends, pub and take back a new bloke

Parents who have issues themselves and project them onto DC. The kids soon realise they can stay off school for feigning illness and would actually be a comfort to Mum

The parents who just cba and say shall we just still in bed?

Of course there are so many other mitigating factors but these are the 3 main experiences we've dealt with. Unfortunately it really does come down to poor parenting and no matter what interventions we do to encourage attendance, only a minority are genuine.

So the cycle...DC think education isn't important, parents are hopeless role models and can often be aggressive to teachers, a deflection of blame.

Then oh DD gets pregnant at age 15, DS has been reprimanded by the police for scooting around in a balaclava. Then pure hostility when we try to continue to talk to them and what could be done to help.

Basically it's just such a shame, these sweet young kids who say they want to be ... become so influenced by their homelife, a need to fit in with their family and peers from the same estate, that they ignore the support we give them, don't turn up to appointments etc.

For the genuine cases, DC with SEN, the effort to try and ensure they are in best place is utmost and it's heartbreaking there aren't enough of them. Yes, we do know genuine cases and not just so many parents striving for a diagnosis because they feed DC a terrible diet and let them stay up late so are tired and irritable at school.

Expecting some backlash, whatever anyone says I can reason with.

Benefits aren't like they use to be you don't just get Benefits anymore especially long term unless you are disabled, a carer or a low paid worker. You can't just choose to be on benefits. So the majority of people you're slagging of are disabled, carers or already working

@Isittimeformynapyet - you've nothing to apologise for. As native speakers, we quite often say "there is" when strictly we're not supposed to. And that's generally accepted as fine when we use the contraction "there's". This is because there is no contraction for "there are". So we say "there's" - as you have done. A decent teacher would know this and not belittle!!

The people most vocal about benefits on here seem to have no clue how little it can be, or how it works (take the 16 hour thing as an example... that has not been the case for a long time).
Same about the job market right now.

No they don't i didn't thats just your privelage showing thinking everyone does and not being able to imagine situations where this doesn't happen

I see it all the time too. It’s heartbreaking it really is. I think w eneed to work pay and school pay. And rather than fines we need incentives linked to UC. We need places for parent at school and place a school at the heart of the community. But engagement is so low. We can run a SEN coffee morning and more often than not it’s working parents who have juggled diaries to get there.

howwever the alternative is the American system with no welfare. Do we want that? Abject poverty high homelessness and trailer park culture? Working 40 hour weeks?

I can’t get on board with the current benefits system allowing people to claim who chose not to work full time.

You're talking rubbish.

If you claim UC to top up your wages, then you would be considerably better off working.

Correct

I was basically told earlier on in this thread by more than one person that I should have been out working as soon as I broke my leg - obviously they've never had a major leg fracture. I couldn't stand for weeks. I only made it to the toilet by crawling on my hands and knees and then pulling myself onto the toilet seat because the previous occupants had a rail installed.

I couldn't shower for weeks. Too dangerous. But I apparently should have been able to get myself in a wheelchair and down a flight of stairs to go to work

I'm a lazy scrounger too. Hope no one slagging me off ever has an accident like I had

You’re totally right. You should definitely sit tight in council accommodation and wait for the right job to tap you on the shoulder and escort you out of poverty. That’s definitely the way to do it. It’s ridiculous to even contemplate going where the work is like my parents did, or what the many billions of people do from low income countries, including economic migrants coming over here for work. You should tell them their enterprising attitude is stupid and they should wait for someone to come along and give them a leg up, no matter how many generations it takes. That’s what they should be teaching their children too.

No she isn’t. I know someone who was cover supervisor and had a claimed benefits and had a lovely life. Had a nice car and house and holidays, maintenance and part share in a business. Didn’t want to become a teacher as would affect her benefits.

TAS take home pay isn’t very much and it’s term time only.

You can type, right? And answer the phone?

You are assuming people out of work are in council accommodation. And also assuming that anyone in council accommodation is not working.

There are plenty of people in council accommodation who work.

No I’m assuming they have insufficient income as that’s a criteria for council accommodation.

I did a similar job, decades ago. I honestly found it soul destroying. Nothing worked, nothing got through, generation after generation of wasted potential. I’ve no idea how you break the cycle.

I own my house thankyou. I also have a job. Im sorry I have a rare congenital progressive condition that means I can't work as much as I use to and that i need pip to cover the costs of my disabilities. My dd works full time and is buying her first home with her bf at 19. So its definitely not generational in our family.

I know PP has suffered some awful things she has not mentioned on this thread which has also been a reason she has struggled to work.
She will have been assessed by the DWP and awarded the appropriate benefits. It is not your place to assume that decision was wrong and that she is taking the piss. She was also not asking for advice on what work she could do.
Can we stop this punching down nonsense?

Depending on where you live, that is not always the case.

I lived in my last council flat for 25 years. I worked that entire time apart from maybe a year and part of that was due to not being able to work due to lockdown

This person stated that they cannot work because they have a broken leg. I was disputing that statement which I think is correct. Perhaps they can’t do their previous work, but there is a lot of work available to people who can only work from home. I only work from home myself.

@Pinkypromise43

Fully WFH jobs really arent that easy to come by. I agree it can be done but you’re on drugs if you think there’s just loads of fully remote jobs about.

I don’t believe council accommodation should be a long term offering. It was started as a safety net for people who were out of accommodation for a period of time. 25 years is long enough for you to have got back on your feet and out again to give to someone else who is requiring accommodation.

Where in the UK is this not the case? Waiting lists for social housing are vast, far too many families are living in entirely unsuitable temporary accommodation. Where in the UK are they not prioritised over people who can afford an alternative?

Well, the DWP disagreed with you and seeing as that who was paying her, what you think is irrelevant.

I think work is available, I didn’t say job. Why the need to be employed by someone? I’ve had 4 different careers all working from home. It’s not difficult to set something up yourself.